Fuqua’s ‘Finest’ to Overture

Action-thriller sold for approximately $2 million

Overture Films is closing a deal to acquire the U.S. rights to Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest.”

The action-thriller, starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle, went for around $2 million.

Film initially sold to Senator at Sundance in January for roughly twice that figure, but when the distrib wasn’t able to gather the P&A funds to release it this year, title effectively became available again.

Overture had been interested in “Brooklyn’s Finest” from the get-go and saw a new edit of the pic at the Venice Film Festival last week.

“We loved the film when we first screened it, and we are happy Antoine’s final vision for the film has found a home at Overture,” said company toppers Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett while at the Toronto fest over the weekend.

“Overture really stepped up for me,” said Fuqua, who calls the distrib “a passionate partner.”

Pic, scripted by Michael C. Martin, follows three Brooklyn cops who end up at the same deadly location after experiencing diverging career paths.

Producers are Elie Cohn, Basil Iwanyk, John Langley, Avi Lerner and John Thompson.

Overture’s satire “Men Who Stare at Goats” and Michael Moore’s latest docu “Capitalism: A Love Story” bowed in Toronto over the first days of the fest. Distrib opens “Capitalism” on Sept. 23 in the U.S., while “Goats” will be sent out on Nov. 6. It also has horror-thriller “Pandorum” lined up for Sept. 25, among a busy fall/winter distribution sked.